Winter hasn’t dented the demand for holiday homes in coastal towns, especially with overseas travel still off the table.
Agents are reporting Covid 19 spinoffs have also led to changing patterns in some of the country’s coastal hotspots.
In Whangamata, on the Coromandel Peninsula, big money is being paid for properties that are not beach front and that’s a change from the old days of when people wanted the first few streets from the beach.
Ray White agent Andrew McGee says people have realised anywhere in Whangamata is still close to the beach.
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“It used to be the golden circle and a lot of people wanted to be in there, whereas now people realise you’re close to town and the beach no matter where you are.”
Absolute beach front is rare, anyway, with people who have it holding on tight and hardly anything has been available since the summer of 2019.
Last week, McGee sold 236b Given Ave, three streets back from the beach, at auction for $1.715m – hugely over the September 2020 CV of $720,000 – with three bidders in particular fighting for the four-bedroom, two-storey 1970s property.
“I think the price was a surprise to most buyers and people who own property in that area but I also think it was an unusually unique property because it did have a sea view and is close to the beach and had been nicely renovated.”
McGee says the Whangamata market is as strong as it has ever been, despite it being winter.
Properties are selling fast and there are far more buyers than sellers so prices are surprising everyone, but Whangamata’s strength is that it lies in between the three major urban areas of Auckland, the Waikato and the Bay of Plenty.
“We don’t seem to go into our quiet periods, or if we do they’re not for very long, and I think it’s because we’re right between three big population areas.”
This two-bedroom home at 3D/105 Aickin Road, in Whangamata, is for sale for $820,000. Photo / Supplied
The town is seeing its share of buyers who recognise overseas travel isn’t likely to happen for a while and they are taking advantage of low interest rates.
McGee thinks entry into Whangamata would set people back these days $750,000 at the low end and has a two-bedroom penthouse apartment with views on the market priced at $820,000.
He says while the Brightline test changes put a pause on the market, as of the end of June the market was back and prices are up by at least 5 per cent.
Demand north of Auckland in the Matakana area is also strong. Jodi Sterling, of Bayleys Matakana, recently sold a two-bedroom Kiwiana bach at 25 Harbour View Road in Point Wells for $1.25m.
There was huge interest in the property by buyers looking to secure a location outside of Auckland City they could use as a weekender/holiday home, she says.
With nearby Omaha having little land and few properties available, tight-knit Point Wells, a little peninsula just past the Omaha causeway, is very popular right now.
25 Harbour View Road, in Point Wells, sold for $1.25m. Photo / Supplied
“There are many buyers at the moment that have apartments or large homes in Auckland that are looking to get away from Auckland on the weekends and get some downtime and I think probably Covid has had its play in that - we can’t travel and people are looking for places to relax outside of Auckland that are still very easily commutable.”
The cottage in Harbour View Road had multiple bidders and people are continuing to search the Matakana Coast but there are slim pickings because listings are so low.
Down Tauranga way Mt Maunganui is proving as popular as ever, too, but the buyers Bayleys agent Kay Ganley is noticing are either people moving to live permanently or locals moving around and upgrading.
She has been involved in two big sales recently. One was for a four-bedroom property in Marine Parade which received a record sale price of $9.5m, and another she sold more recently at 3/201 Ocean Beach Road for $5.25m.
While the first went to a Waikato farming family, the second was bought by locals upgrading to beach front.
Ganley, too, says there is little stock but a lot of buyers: “We could do with a lot more waterfront and beachfront properties, that’s for sure.”
Entry-level bach: 3 Te Hutewai Road in Raglan sold for $730,000. Photo / Supplied
Bayleys Hamilton agent Stephen O’Byrne says some people might move to Hamilton first, go to Raglan for a surf and the next minute decide to move there.
“The next thing they’re downing tools and they’re telling the boss to stick the job – and then the boss turns around and says, ‘nah, you can work from home.’”
O’Byrne recently sold 3 Te Hutewai Road in Raglan, an entry level property, for $730,000, but says the popular surf town is down to only five or six residential properties available.
“There’s very strong demand. We seem to be seeing more and more people buying as owner-occupier as opposed to a rental portfolio, so we’re getting a lot more young people buying into the market.
“Some of them have been helped out by families, some of them are co-ownership, maybe two siblings, and you’re talking entry level.”
The Te Hutewai Road property was a low entry level price for Raglan as these days you are unlikely to get in for under $800,000, O’Byrne says.
While Aucklanders, Wellingtonians, people from Hawkes Bay and the Bay of Plenty are all in the buyer mix, young people and professional couples are “chomping at the bit” to get on the property market but they are wanting contemporary, modern, up to code properties.
“Some of the older properties have the best views and locations but require work because of the age of them.”
Raglan has too little stock but that’s a problem everywhere, O’Byrne says: “I was in Waihi Beach recently and there were six listings between eight agencies.”
